Genre/Influences: Death-Industrial, Power-Electronics, Noise.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: Hailing from Mexico,
Zihr Alphil has released a considerable number of productions between 2008 and 2013. But then the project went through a long silence till “Bastion XXIII” -which was already released a year ago.

Content: The front cover looks more than controversial, but that’s a part of this project’s image and approach. The sound is clearly driven by old demons of Death-Industrial –so it’s not a coincidence Roger Karmanik (Cold Meat Industry label owner, but also known for his Brighter Death Now project) has been mentioned among the ‘thanks to’. The hardest pieces of the album are into Death-Industrial and a kind of Ambient-Noise style moving crescendo till a total sonic earthquake. But the work also reveals a very few ‘softer’ tracks, which are more into Experimental music and even Ritual mixed with Noise.

+ + + : The diversity of the album for sure is the main strength of this work. I like the overwhelming debut, but still the passages featuring a kind of Ritual influence (cf. “Sagrada Santa Muerte”). The lovers of Death-Industrial music will be pleased discovering tracks like “Astarteastaroth” and “Satanas Montando Un Elefante Rosa”.

– – – : Most of the tracks are long, sometimes a bit too extended. The most traditional Death-Industrial pieces aren’t my favorites as they rapidly start to be repetitive.

Conclusion: Harsh and merciless sonic torture from Mexico!

Best songs: “Sagrada Santa Muerte”, “Por El Valle De La Muerte Cabalgaron Los 600”.

Rate: 7.

Artist: www.facebook.com/escuadronmuerte

Label: www.steinklang.org / www.facebook.com/steinklang

About Escuadron De La Muerte

Escuadron De La Muerte is the Mexican industrial project of Francisco “Zihr Alphil”, started in 2007 in Aguascalientes. Its stated aim is to build destructive atmospheres and odes to death, drawing on noise, death industrial, martial, power electronics and dark ambient.

The recorded output runs from “Eraser Minds” in 2008 through “Thanatophilia Cruentus” on L. White Records in 2009, “Omnia Vincit Mors” on Ufa Muzak in 2010, and “Mörder” and “Acherontia Atropos” in 2011. The project first appeared on Steinklang Industries with “Birds Of Pain And Blood” in 2012, then went quiet after “Bautismo De Fuego: Le Dernier Bataillon” in 2013.

“Bastion XXIII” returned the project to Steinklang Industries in 2020 as a limited CD. A cassette, “Prototype (1900-2020)”, followed on the same label.

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

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Mortiis will present a live reinterpretation of the 1994 release “Ånden Som Gjorde Opprør” this fall at the Cold Meat Industry 30th Anniversary celebration in Stockholm. The event will take place on the 3rd & 4th of November 2017 at Klubben.

To celebrate this the “Ånden Som Gjorde Opprør” can now be downloaded for free right here.

“Together with CMI founder Roger Karmanik we have now gathered more acts signed to the famed Cold Meat Industry than any other festival has ever managed to and we intend to make this event the ultimate Cold Meat Industry 30 Years Anniversary!” says Mortiis, and he continues: “I don’t just want to do the record as it was back in 1994, but rather excavate it from 1994 and drag it into the new light of the current world, while retaining the atmosphere of the original sound.”

Other artists performing at the event are Arcana, Archon, Satani, Brighter Death Now, Coph Nia, Desiderii Marginis, Deutsch Nepal, In Slaughter Natives, Mothhound, MZ.412, Ordo Rosarius Equilibrio, Raison D’Etre, Sanctum, Sephiroth and Sophia.

You can order your tickets right here. Below is the posterartwork for the festival.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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